immortal longings: the one where i long for authors to leave weird sex scenes out of novels
- paigenherbooks
- Oct 11, 2023
- 5 min read
3/5
Immortal Longings didn't suck, but I didn't love it either. It had an okay cast of characters, an interesting enough world, and a concept that wasn't totally awful, but it just didn't wow me. It's a story that has all of the right components to be a really exciting & engaging action/fantasy novel but it unfortunately just falls a little short. With an enemies to lovers plotline I didn't love, a "game" concept that just didn't stike me as exciting, and NO MAP (a serious disgrace in my opinion) I think Immortal Longings is an okay book.
Synopsis: Inspired by Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, Immortal Longings is a fiery collision of power plays, spilled blood, and romance amidst a set of deadly games. Every year, thousands in the kingdom of Talin will flock to its capital twin cities, San-Er, where the palace hosts a set of games.
As I stated, Immortal Longings has all of the bones to be a really great novel, one that could use it's unique history & idea's to construct a fantasy novel that hasn't been totally done before. Unfortunately it just slightly missed the mark.
There's this interesting concept of "jumping" where people can push their "qui" into another person and essentially leave their body & opperate in someone elses. This is a unique thing that I've personally never really read about in a book before and it instantly intrigued me, but also lost me throughout the novel.
There's points where one of our two main characters, Anton, doesn't have his host body and is just jumping around everywhere, and yet our other main character, Calla, starts to fall in love with (more on this romance later) and I get that it's suppose to be a theme of loving people for who they are and not what they look like, but for some reason that was just a tad bit off putting for me.
Like you have no idea what this person looks like and you're kissing & having sexual relations with someone else...who is technically still conscience and will resume their daily life with no recollection when Anton leaves their body.
I didn't love that.
Before we get into the enemies to lovers that had so much potential, we have to talk a little bit more about the plot and the world building. Gong creates an engaging world, one that I was interested in operating in and learning more about (even if she didn't have a map) there's the concept of a rich city and a malicious ruler and then the poorer cities who are just, quite frankly, shit on.
There's also the games.
The games are something that people can join to essentially kill their way to money, because ya know, everyone is literally dying on the streets here. I liked the essence of the games, the theme showcasing the grossness of having these people literally kill just to cancel debts or be able to afford health care, but again, it just fell a little flat for me. The game structure is kinda wonky and not structured in a way that is super digestiable. The games are just happening in the city while the rest of the "world" moves on. People are just running around and killing each other in the streets and so on.
Again, I know this was probably on purpose to emphasize the point, but half the time I forgot they were playing a game.
It just felt like I was following to killers around trying to survive--which don't get me wrong, isn't bad at all, it's just not the actual premise of the book, so it felt lacking alot of the time. I wanted more. I've read some great "game" based books, such as The Hunger Games and Red Rising, and compared to those, Immortal Longings game felt like something to give the plot a little more depth as well as create a way to construct the story but didn't focus enough time on actually fleshing out the games for them to be effective or worthwhile.
The romance.
Oh the romance.
Calla and Anton are sworn to hate each other at the very beginning which means we all know they'll eventually fall for each other. I didn't hate this, like at all. I love a good enemeies to lovers moment, if it's done correctly. Calla and Anton just didn't do it for me.
It starts off strong, they actually do hate eachother, and often are insulting each other in the way that only extreme sexual tension can create.
I'm eating it up.
Yes, tell him how much you hate him and how annoying he is. Please tell her you can take her down in t-minus five seconds.
Still munching it up over here.
But, then they start to actually like each other. Paige, but you just said you like enemies to lovers, yes I did, but listen. They start to like eachother in a way that just doesn't feel a. organic, or b. legitimate.
It's like a switch just goes off and they're both like, ah yes, let's have sex RIGHT NOW.
Like the sexual dialogue is enough for me to want to push myself and someone close to me off of a cliff. Please authors read something else other than porn or smut to write sex scenes, I'm begging you. I wanted the tension to grow and grow and grow until it was unbearable. I wanted them to steal a kiss here and there and be like, "ugh it's just because I'm lonely" or "there's nothing better to do", or "you're the only one that I can be myself with".
The growth just wasn't there, resulting in a rushed and lack luster climax that wasn't all that climatic, at least for me as the reader. I'm sure the characters had a great one.
The POV's of the novel were interesting, we had a lot going on but I felt like none of them were developed in deep enough manner that I felt truly connected to the characters or who they were or what they were doing. I just didn't feel connected or super invested in general.
Though I will say I didn't see really any of the plot twists coming, so to the author I applaud her for that. It kept the plot at least engaging enough for me to want to continue reading the story, even if I wasn't 100% invested in it at all times.
Immortal Longings is a novel that has the structure and the bones to be something innovative, unique, & truly great. Though due to some short comings she's a low 3/5 for me. The writing was good, the characters were okay, and the plot itself was decent, nothing to really razzle dazzle me into giving her a higher rating.
Till next review!
xoxo,
paige
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